Office
Hours: Immediately after class in Rm. 401 WWH

The principal challenge
facing technology companies today is to offer new, relevant products that keep
up with the explosive growth in bandwidth and storage on networks and computers.
To remain competitive in a do-or-die climate, innovative product houses - from
IDEO to Cooper Interactive to Frog to HP - have embraced new, cost effective
rapid prototyping methods. To get the best results from costly development cycles,
these companies develop rich scenarios around the end-user, and use creative
methods early in the process to envision and iterate a range of product outcomes.
Rapid Visualization, with tools drawn from various creative disciplines, dramatically
increases the volume and quality of ideas that enter the new product pipeline,
and accelerates their time to market.

This course introduces
these methods with case studies pulled from, among other sources, the instructor's
hands-on experience directing a rapid visualization team at AT&T Labs-Research.
Armed with a new set of techniques - concept sketches, storyboards, service
and use-case scenarios, and even faux ads - students will gain a practical understanding
of the value of rapid visualization to new product development. Students will
apply these methods to the development of a novel, visual software tool.

Prerequisite: WWW Programming or equivalent Java experience.

Is a picture
worth a thousand lines of code?

These simple representations
helped envision robust solutions on top of core research at AT&T Labs.

Companies large
and small are turning to rapid visualization methods - to define problems, create
scenarios around endusers, and accelerate the time to market of new products
- sometimes in advance of writing a single line of code. The reason is simple.
It's far more economical to iterate at the pre-prototyping level than after
software development is underway. This in no way diminishes the importance of
rapid prototyping ("A prototype is worth a thousand pictures" - Rudd,
J. and Isensee, S) but is a versatile, flexible companion to scope the opportunities,
assumptions, interfaces and user scenarios that will give prototypes their relevance.

Why should a
CS grad student learn about rapid visualization methods?

1. It's the way
of the future:
Innovative design houses are strong advocates of RV methods in the design of
high tech products and services.

2. It pays:
Whether to tap the potential in a large patent archive or to envision new applications.

3. The market for people with RV skills is enormous:
From filmmakers to game designers; scientists to automobile designers; Fashion
to designers of military AI applications...

4. It makes you a lightening rod for innovation:A single concept sketch can galvanize the efforts of an entire team or company.

5. Help your company be first out of the gate:
An RV capability can enable a company to beat others to new frontiers.

6. Art and engineering have converged.
People with a foot in both worlds have a great advantage.

7. It's a fun job. Someone has to do it:
There is a joy that comes from working at the intersection of new domains.